Unlocking the truth about restaurant reviews

Murano ★ // Mayfair // London

as expected

There are few things more satisfying than to have a long, leisurely meal in a lovely dining room and to be served beautiful, delicious food. One place that continues to deliver this winning formula is Angela Hartnett’s Murano. And while she manages to orchestrate all the elements of great fine dining at her Mayfair restaurant, it’s still the high-quality ingredients really stand-out and make the whole experience what it is.

Once you’ve got past the heavenly truffled arancini, cured meat and luscious bread, it’s time to ‘start’ your meal. Hartnett’s grilled rabbit has to be one of the most balanced and rewarding meals on her menus. Perfectly pretty, every item on the plate hums with quality. The meat, undoubtedly cooked sous-vide before a gentle pan fry, is so pale in colour and velvety in texture that you might realise that it is in fact rabbit; it simply melts in your mouth. Its companions of a silky corn purée and some earthy, textured Scottish girolles offer sweetness, texture and depth. This dish sounds rich and heavy but it is light and delicate; perhaps the stand out plate.

The summer vegetable salad with crispy gnocchi is another master-class in using simple, excellent ingredients to fantastic effect. Dotted with flecks of herbs, the gnocchi are almost dumpling like in flavour. Soft on the inside and lightly crisped-up in some golden butter, the gnocchi are scattered around a lavish garden of vegetable textures and flavours. Some fresh and crisp, others, lightly pickled and punchy. The dish is garnished with two streaks of purée, one pea, which helps to gather everything up on your fork. The other, an astonishing purée (carrot most likely) has a strong, orange oil essence that reminds you of a refreshing fresh twist of zest. Overall, this dish shows that vegetarian options can sometimes be the best things to order if you want something original and surprising.

Desserts, are slightly more standard, but the quality of the summer berries served alongside a white chocolate and mint ice cream, is outstanding. Again beautifully plated though perhaps a little safe, the flavours are there to leave you feeling satisfied. The cheese trolley is a good one too, so if you’re not in the mood for sweetness, the enthusiastic staff serve-up hefty plates to go with one of Murano’s fine dessert wines.

Murano is certainly a benchmark *1 star British restaurant. It’s such a pleasure to be able to eat somewhere, where humble ingredients are turned into masterpieces of flavour, texture and art; thank you Angela.

Experience

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Fine dining

Fine dining restaurants are full service restaurants with specific dedicated meal courses. Décor of such restaurants feature higher-quality materials, with an eye towards the "atmosphere" desired by the restaurateur, than restaurants featuring lower-quality materials. The wait staff is usually highly trained and often wears more formal attire. Fine-dining restaurants are almost always small businesses and are generally either single-location operations or have just a few locations. Food portions are visually appealing. Fine dining restaurants have certain rules of dining which visitors are generally expected to follow often including a dress code.

sous-vide

Sous-vide is a method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for a long time—72 hours in some cases—at an accurately determined temperature much lower than normally used for cooking, typically around 60 °C (140 °F). The intention is to cook the item evenly, and to not overcook the outside while still keeping the inside at the same "doneness", keeping the food juicier.

girolles

Girolle is a mushroom from the same family as Chanterelles or Cantharellus. It has a fruity smell and a peppery taste, and is considered as one of the best food mushrooms.